


Hiding in Plain Sight

by Scree_Kat



Series: Ineffable Parenthood [4]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), It's been a long day, M/M, No Angst, all the new beginnings, i'm shocked too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 09:48:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19999927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scree_Kat/pseuds/Scree_Kat
Summary: Some days, you don't notice the bleedingly obvious until a witch arrives on your doorstep to point it out.





	Hiding in Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> This series isn't published in chronological order. If this is something that'll irritate you, consider this your sign from the universe to run. Run like Hastur is drunk and lonely and trying to chat you up.

It isn’t that Aziraphale and Crowley are stupid, or inattentive. You don’t survive double crossing Heaven and Hell without intelligence and the ability to pay attention. It’s just that there were other things requiring their attention at the time. 

The thrum of magic within Harry and Hermione’s souls wasn’t what you’d call _subtle._ In fact, both were rather alarmingly powerful, even without training, rather in the same way that lightning and tornadoes and bombs don’t require an education to be dangerous. Powerful as they both were, their new parents hadn’t actually realised it, not when they’d summarily adopted, fed, and bundled them into the Bentley. In fairness, at the start, it was because the children were both being attacked at the time, and the ridiculously large marks of Fate the children were wearing were more than a little distracting. There was protecting of innocents to be done, and then came the feeding of innocents, and a lot of distracting little elements that meant while Aziraphale and Crowley were paying an awful lot of attention to their new wards, they weren’t quite seeing everything. 

After that, of course, came the realisation that they needed to tell their other half that they’d taken a walk and inadvertently confiscated a teensy, tragic little mortal, and the inevitable risk of a confrontation involving phrases like ‘kidnapping’ ‘I’m disappointed’ and ‘put it back where you found it or so help me…’. Then the realisation that they’d unwittingly decided to collect a set of strays, and the sudden mad worry that said strays might not get along, or worse, hate each other. Then the distraction of watching them meet, and their Fate marks entwining rather ominously… which, when all is said and done, is rather a lot of very reasonable things to be distracted by in the course of a day. 

They had been home for all of five minutes, just enough time to miracle the cottage another two bedrooms and en suites (Crowley had insisted each child needed their own bathroom, citing the inevitable onset of puberty and obsessive personal grooming that might result), and to start helping their respective child decorate said bedrooms, when an insistent knocking began. Sighing, Crowley moved to answer it, Hermione following along curiously at his heels. He could hear Aziraphale and Harry hurrying to catch up even as he threw open the door, watching Anathema, hand raised comically, flinch in surprise. 

‘Um… hi?’ Her upraised fist became an awkward wave, and then she started talking, so fast all the words seemed melted together like unfinished icecream. ‘Sorry to bother, but have you noticed anything really, really powerful show up? Because something has shown up here and I-’ Her eyes widened, finally noticing the two children. ‘Your auras…’ Her voice trailed off in a worrying kind of wonder, and Crowley looked to Hermione curiously. It took him a moment to look beyond the hurt and rage and rebellion that the girl absolutely blazed with, and to focus beyond that blessed Fate mark, but once he had, the shimmering golden mass of magical power was painfully obvious, so obvious he blessed himself as an idiot for not even noticing it in the first place. ‘Huh.’

Aziraphale, too, looked curiously to his own charge. The boy was watching Anathema warily, had moved slightly behind Crowley as if to hide himself from her sight. Harry’s magical core was tarnished in a way Hermione’s wasn’t. Oh, he was powerful, probably more powerful than Hermione in terms of sheer brute force. But it was as though he felt guilty for it. 

Or, Aziraphale thought with a surge of righteous fury towards the Dursley’s, he’d been punished for it to the point he associated his magical abilities with pain. That, he promised, would change. Pushing aside his rage, Aziraphale cleared his throat. ‘Children, this is our good friend and neighbour, Anathema. Anathema, this is Harry and Hermione. We’ve adopted them.’ He shot her the sort of smile he hoped was reassuring, but judging by her suspicious gaze, he was pretty sure Anathema had noticed something wasn’t right. 

‘You just… popped to London to randomly adopt some magical kids?’ Both children flinched at the word _magical_ , though for entirely different reasons. 

‘How did you know?’ Hermione’s voice was curious, not defensive, and Aziraphale tried not to beam at Crowley’s adorably proud glance towards the child. _His child, now,_ he reminded himself. _Just like Harry’s mine._

‘I’m a witch. I can see your auras.’ Hermione was off, suddenly peppering Anathema with an overwhelming flood of questions that left the older woman grinning fondly as she struggled to keep up and offer answers. Clearly, it was hard to maintain suspicion in the face of Hermione’s apparently boundless curiosity. Even Harry had moved from behind Crowley to sneak forward, his soul glowing in faint excitement. Aziraphale thought it was all going quite well, overall, when the sudden arrival of four rather loud children interrupted the flow of conversation (or, more accurately, Hermione’s train of thought). Hermione grabbed Crowley’s hand nervously, taking a step back to be hidden behind him, and Harry followed her lead. Aziraphale could hear Crowley’s whispered promise that they were good kids, and she was safe because even if they weren't good, he was undoubtedly worse. There was a story there, clearly, and Aziraphale didn’t doubt hearing it would leave him rather cross. Choosing to get to the bottom of that unpleasant mystery later (preferably later tonight, over a good wine), the angel smiled towards the new arrivals in welcome. 

‘Hello, children. You’re out late.’

‘I could feel something arrive.’ Adam shrugged like the reminder that he was, in fact, not quite as human as the majority of the people around him wasn't as concerning as it should probably be. ‘Powerful. Not like _Horseman_ powerful, but still…’ he, too, had been too distracted by the feeling of power radiating off of the children to even notice they were there, and Aziraphale heard Crowley’s soft huff of laughter to see him notice the two additions to the house. Adam froze, mouth hanging open in surprise. ‘Hi, you must be the new arrivals!’ There was nothing in his posture or expression to say that he was angry, or about to try and use the remaining power thrumming through his veins to destroy them, so Aziraphale would take it as a win. 

Crowley was eyeing him almost worriedly, before shaking himself, more dog like than serpentine, and smiling his most charming smile. ‘Adam, Pepper, Brian, Wensleydale, I’m glad you’re here! Just in time to meet our new arrivals, Harry and Hermione.’ He’d helpfully pointed to each as he named them, and the children nodded to each other awkwardly in response. Adam’s surprise morphed to the sort of manic curiosity Hermione had only just recovered from.

‘What are you?’

‘They’re magical. There’s actually a community of magical humans hidden from the rest of the world.’ Adam shot an utterly betrayed look towards Anathema, who shrugged rather helplessly in response. 

‘Don’t look at me! I never knew either.’

‘Are you good or evil, though? Because if I’m being honest here, I don’t think I want to deal with more end-of-days type stuff.’ His friends nodded, and Pepper looked downright relieved to see Adam held no interest in reclaiming his Antichrist mantle. 

‘Good,’ Harry muttered, sounding more than a little insulted at the question. Beside him, Hermione shrugged, giving the question far more thought than was probably needed. Crowley smothered a grin. 

‘I guess it depends on how you define _good_ , doesn’t it? I mean, it’s all essentially a spectrum, not a binary, so guess I’m in the middle somewhere. I mean, I’m not like a serial killer or anything, but I don’t think there’s going to be churches named after me, either.’ Adam nodded as though it was a completely reasonable answer. Behind him, Pepper looked as though Christmas had come early, her soul radiating joy and love. 

Potential threat of powerful villains resolved, it took all of five minutes for Harry and Hermione to be inducted into the Them, and gain a promise for their new friends to show them the woods the next morning. Both children seemed a little overwhelmed at the sudden influx of people in their lives, but Aziraphale could feel the joy both felt at being so readily included. As the Them rode off into the evening, Anathema invited them all to dinner the next evening before taking her leave as well. As silence fell, Hermione leaned tiredly against Crowley, who scooped her up absently and closed the door before wandering back to her bedroom. 

It felt right to wrap an arm around Harry’s shoulder, asking the boy if he’d like some dinner. He looked exhausted, too, and leaned into Aziraphale’s side, wrapping an arm around his back, oblivious to the angel grinning above him at the unconscious show of affection. There would be time to figure out how to raise magical children with large, likely terrifying fates ahead of them later. For now, they had exhausted children to tuck in, and a bottle of wine and an awkward conversation to muddle through. Aziraphale had thought that sharing his life openly with Crowley was the most wonderful feeling in the world. But kissing Harry’s head, and wishing him pleasant dreams (and then swapping rooms with Crowley to repeat the new ritual with Hermione) made his already perfect life even more perfect. 

He was rather looking forward to getting used to all of this. 

**Author's Note:**

> For those asking for a chronological order, it runs as follows:
> 
> In Which A Family Is Created Through Arguable Theft  
> Thoughts From the Back of a Bentley  
> Hiding In Plain Sight  
> Interlude: Through the Looking Glass  
> Her Father’s Eyes  
> In Which You Probably Shouldn’t Say Those Kinds Of Things Around Children, Crowley  
> The Demon Of Lost Causes  
> Raising Hell  
> Somebody to Love  
> Interlude: A Walk Down Privet Drive and An Ominous Sense of Oncoming Doom


End file.
